- M
Note: This case is zakat eligible and verified
“And whoever saves one life, it is as if they have saved all of humanity.” - Qur’an 5:32
This Ramadan, we are given a question that sits quietly in the heart:
What if your charity could protect a mind from stroke, preserve mobility, and restore hope to someone who has spent her life serving others?
This is Saman’s story.
A Life of Service - Now in Urgent Need
Saman is not only a patient. She is a scholar, environmental researcher, and humanitarian.
Every opportunity she earned came through scholarships, relentless hard work, and sacrifice.
She fought for every seat at every table.
A graduate of Yale University School of the Environment, an alumna of Lahore University of Management Sciences, and a former doctoral researcher at the University of Melbourne, her work has focused on climate justice and strengthening vulnerable communities across South Asia and the Middle East.
Saman built her future through discipline, faith, and perseverance.
She has spent her life advocating for others. Today, she needs us to advocate for her.
The Immediate Life-Saving Need: $45,000
The $45,000 current target is strictly for urgent, life-saving medical treatment.
This amount is required to:
• Prevent organ failure
• Prevent irreversible neurological damage
• Prepare for tethered cord surgery
• Stabilise progression before permanent loss of function occurs
Time is critical.
Understanding the Medical Crisis
Due to a delayed diagnosis and gaps in care, Saman is living with multiple rare and complex conditions that impact her daily life:
- Late-stage neurological Lyme disease affecting her brain and spinal cord
- Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) a genetic connective tissue disorder
- Tethered Cord Syndrome placing dangerous tension on her spinal cord
- Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)
- Dysautonomia impacting heart rate, Digestion and blood pressure
- Long COVID complications
- A rare cerebrovascular condition (an atypical Moyamoya / ICAD variant) narrowing arteries to her brain
- Eagle Syndrome compressing jugular blood flow
- Cranial Cervical Instability
What does this mean in real terms?
It means:
- Constant neurological instability
- Risk of stroke
- Progressive weakness and mobility loss
- Severe pain
- Potential paralysis if care is interrupted
Her physicians have warned: without coordinated and uninterrupted treatment, she risks irreversible neurological damage.
Stability is not optional. It is lifesaving.
Facing Housing Instability + Traumatic Injuries without a safety net
In recent months, Saman’s situation has become even more fragile.
Severe fiberglass contamination during mold remediation forced her to leave her apartment and resulted in the loss of most of her belongings. Since then, she has relied on short-term lodging, rapidly depleting limited financial resources.
Because of her immunocompromised condition, congregate shelter housing is not safe. Accessible and allergy friendly housing is also expensive to secure with Section 8 waiting lists being closed. Limited public assistance does not cover needs, and insurance premiums have increased significantly.
To make matters worse, Saman had a trip and fall in January that led to serious injuries to her hip and knee, leaving her unable to bear weight or sit without significant pain.
She has completed pre-operative evaluations for (spinal cord release) neurosurgery but cannot proceed without stable housing and caregiver support during recovery.
Her only sibling was denied a visa to assist her. Her elderly and disabled mother briefly traveled to provide care but was forced to return overseas due to housing instability and her own medical safety being put at risk. It has been a devastating separation for a family that has already suffered the loss of a son in a fatal car accident, to see their loving daughter helpless and alone like this.
Saman is ineligible for Social Security benefits because she has not accumulated the minimum number of work credits required.
Saman is currently without a reliable safety net.
Why Are We Raising Funds Now?
Over the past three years, Saman has been sustained by the generosity of friends and community members. Their support made it possible for her to access critical diagnostics, specialist consultations at Stanford, Lenox Hill, Columbia/NewYork-Presbyterian, Mass General Brigham, The Morrison Center and Brown. It enabled emergency care, medical travel, and essential living needs during the most uncertain phases of her illness.
We are deeply grateful for that kindness.
Because of her strong faith, Saman continues to fight with extraordinary courage. However, her medical needs have grown more complex and urgent.
This is the narrow window where intervention can still prevent permanent decline.
Many specialists treating her more rare conditions do not accept Medicaid. She is not eligible for Medicare. Essential neurosurgical evaluations, pain management and advanced in clinic treatments require out-of-pocket coverage and/or PPO insurance with high premiums.
No one should lose their mobility or cognitive function because of systemic gaps.
Yet this is the reality facing patients with rare and poorly understood disease.
How your donation will help Saman
The $45,000 is the immediate life-saving medical target. Below is the broader projected recovery budget for long-term stabilization
Immediate Stabilization — $40,000
Safe, accessible housing near treatment centers
Caregiver support during surgical recovery
Essential furnishings and clothing to replace items damaged
Specialized Neurological & Surgical Care — $200,000
Neurosurgery for Tethered Cord and Eagle Syndrome
Advanced Lyme treatment
Rehabilitation and regenerative pain management
Insurance premiums, deductibles, medications
Medical travel and accommodations
Repayment of urgent high-interest medical and housing debt
Medical Equipment & Daily Support — $10,000
Mobility aids
Orthopedic stabilization devices
Nerve recovery equipment
Medically appropriate nutrition and transport
These projections cover approximately 18 months of stabilization and recovery.
How You Can Make a Difference
Donate generously - every contribution matters
Share this campaign within your networks
Make du’a for healing and stability
Even small donations, given with sincerity this Ramadan, can protect her mobility, reduce stroke risk, and restore her chance at independence.
This is more than a fundraiser.
It is a chance to be someone’s answered prayer.
May your generosity return to you multiplied in mercy, health, and barakah.
Follow Saman’s Personal Journey
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/helpsamanrecover
*Note: Saman is the sole beneficiary of this campaign and zakat eligible. A group of Saman’s friends are organizing this on her behalf. Saman considers the help she receives here on Gofundme to be an amana/trust from the community.
**For any questions about her plan of care and breakdown of expenses, please contact the campaign organizers by clicking contact support on this page.
